ESPN does a great job tracking college football team efficiency throughout the year and in their latest ranking, MSU was ranked #10 overall, with their defense at #5 and the offense ranked down at #63. Michigan State’s special teams unit ranked remarkably high, coming in at #2 behind Navy with a 94.4 rating.
Here is how the team efficiency ranking works, per ESPN:
“Team efficiencies are based on the point contributions of each unit to the team’s scoring margin, on a per-play basis. The values are adjusted for strength of schedule and down-weighted for “garbage time” (based on win probability). The scale goes from 0 to 100; higher numbers are better and the average is roughly 50 for all categories. Efficiencies update daily during the season.”
Junior Kicker Matt Coghlin is 100% on field goals this season, going 7-7, including hitting three field goals from 40-49 yards away.
The defense being ranked at number five sounds about right. They haven’t faced a truly formidable offense yet and since this is a weighted ranking system it makes sense that they will have to wait for their crown. A ranking of 63 for the offense seems a little harsh after the beatdown they gave Western but that’s not exactly a hill I want to die on.
